Never Give Up Hope
by FallenFan77
Summary: It was the day of her graduation. She had waited three long years. Would she ever see the white haired half demon she loved? Hopefully, she will never give up hope.


**:= Never Give Up Hope =:**

- _By: FallenFan77_

-x-

**Author's Note**

Ahhh. . . It's good to be writing again, with my sister typing this up for me. This idea never left my mind and I finally completed writing it on paper, piece by piece three days ago. Enjoy reading it, it's so good to be back again!

**Disclaimer:** *Taps on mic* _Is this thing working?_ *People I don't know nod.* _Good, then must I say, I do not own Inuyasha or the quote down there. _

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_"No. Don't give up hope just yet. It's the last thing to go. When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope."_

- Pittacus Lore, _I Am Number Four. _

* * *

"Kagome?"

The young raven haired girl's eyes squinted momentarily before opening them groggily from sleep. Today was the day that she was graduating from high school. It was only a few days since she turned eighteen as well. She pushed herself up in a sitting position and stretched. "I'm up mama," she said to her mother who waited for a response behind her closed bedroom door.

"Okay, you will have to go to that little cafe down the street to buy something to eat. I have to drop off your grandfather for his checkup," her mother told her. Kagome heard the retreating footsteps before she could no longer hear them anymore.

Deciding to not fall back and complain that it was too early in the morning, she fought the urge and scrambled herself from her pink thick blanket. She slipped into her slippers that were near the bed and got up, then she went to the window that has been closed and locked for a year. Every since the well closed three years ago, she didn't want to give up the hope that was hanging on a thin string, she didn't want to believe that she couldn't go back and see her hanyou once more. After two years passed her hope began to wane.

The hope of ever meeting Inuyasha was diminishing and ever since then she felt sadness eating her from the inside out. Even her mother noticed it and tried to help her out in any way she could have.

This was the morning of her graduation. She finally completed her studies and she was glad she managed to raise her grades much higher than she anticipated.

Kagome brushed her raven-blue colored hair and opened the door to leave her bedroom. She was dressed in her high school uniform and after graduating junior high, she had grown to the change of uniform.

"Bye mama!" she walked out the door to get breakfast.

"Bye sweet heart!" she heard her mother say back.

Kagome passed by the well house and stopped in front of it. The shoji door was closed and she never went inside after the many injuries after trying her very best to go back to the Feudal Era.

_Inuyasha I miss you,_ she thought when she continued her way to the leave the shrine grounds, passing the Goshinboku she momentarily stopped to touch the scar where he was pinned. "I'm losing hope of ever seeing you again," she whispered.

Looking at the time on her wristwatch that her grandfather gave her for her eighteenth birthday, the first normal present instead of a liver of some demon or claw of a dragon or whatever animal it belonged to.

"I have to eat breakfast," she muttered and took off.

Minutes after racing down the shrine staircase and streets, she arrived and went into a cozy cafe. It was peaceful and quiet, sure there were people chattering, but it had a savory aura in it.

"Good morning Kagome," the lady behind the counter said, with her usual cheerful smile like always. Her name, well known to Kagome was Yoi. It fit her in many ways.

"Morning," the raven haired girl retorted.

"How is school going? I heard you were graduating today, these girls from the same school that you go to told me. Did you pick out what university you want to go to and study?" Yoi questioned. She was a nice woman, ranging around Kagome's age and the grin she always gave reminded Kagome of _someone_.

"Yes, today is the day I am graduating and I am not sure what I will be learning," she answered her question.

Yoi glanced at her and placed an elbow on the counter and rested her chin on the palm of her hand,"Something troubling you Kagome?"

"No…," Kagome answered in dismay. Yoi looked at her with disbelief," I know something is bothering you. If you need someone to talk to-"

She just wanted to let her emotions out, she didn't want to keep them locked inside her for so long. She never had told her mother how she felt about her separation with Inuyasha.

"I'm just deathly afraid of never seeing…someone I really care about ever again," Kagome said.

Yoi nodded and smiled at her,"Well then you know what you should do."

Kagome waited until she spoke again, but Yoi didn't say anything other than give her a folded paper,"Don't open until you go _home._" Kagome nodded and then Yoi cleared her throat.

"Same as always or something else?" Yoi asked, arching a black brow. Her brown eyes looked at Kagome in questioning, although she already knew the answer.

"The usual," Kagome retorted with a fake smile.

She nodded and turned around,"Hey Mako! We need the 'Torikago Sunset Special'," the waitress said.

"Alright Yoi, it's coming right up," the man inside the kitchen said, Kagome could've sworn she saw silver hair whip by the window of the door. Kagome blinked several times, was it just her imagination? Yoi eyed her before she asked her what was wrong.

Kagome shook her head and turned her head to the side,"The Torikago Sunset Special?"(1) taking hint of what _her_ order was named.

Yoi nodded and began to write down a few more orders before she turned to Kagome,"That's right, its the special that you order most of the time, and that's its name. My father called it that when we first made it, and our mother loved it so much, so the name stuck ever since."

Kagome nodded and thanked Yoi when she received her food.

"Your welcome, relax for a little while, I'm sure your graduation doesn't start for another forty minutes," Yoi had said, she turned around to walk into the kitchen to retrieve some food for the other costumers. Kagome grinned and went to sit in the back by the window to watch the people pass by it, children, teens, couples and families.

"So the priestess disappeared from their world grandpa?" a little boy wearing purple sat next to an elderly man who smiled down at the little boy.

"That's what your great great great great, now how many greats was that," the grandfather wondered and then patted the boy's head. "You see Jin, your descendant was a monk and had an odd side to him," the grandfather chuckled.

Kagome took a bite out of her sandwich and listened to the conversation, _he couldn't mean__…_ She didn't want to think of that anymore, if she were to ever move on, if she _could_ _ever_ move on she had to forget.

"What odd side grandfather?" Jin, the boy had asked.

His grandfather shook his head,"That's another story, do you want me to continue the one about the hanyou and future priestess?"

Jin nodded continuously, then taking a bite out of his bagel eager to hear his grandfather's words.

Kagome didn't need to listen about what happened, she lived through it. She was separated from Inuyasha and now she'd have to live in her world without him.

_A world without you,_ she thought, sighing heavily she got up from her chair and walked to the door. She didn't notice that a person was just about to enter when it was too late.

"Ah, gomen nasai," Kagome apologized, lowering her head so she couldn't look at the person in the eye because of her embarrassment.

"It's okay, no harm done, I should be apologizing for not seeing you coming out," the man who stood in front of her smiled reassuringly.

Kagome didn't see he smile and she nodded. Staring at the wristwatch she gasped,"I have to get going, I'm sorry for bumping into you," she said walking right pass him, only to have her wrist caught by his.

"Miss…you forgot something," the man said, holding a handbag in his hand. Taking a look at his features, Kagome stared at him, his brown hair tied back to the nape of his neck. His eyes staring right at her, it gave her a feeling of familiarity.

"Thank you," she smiled and took the bag from him, pivoting to the side to go out the door.

Mako stared from behind the closed kitchen door, through the glass and sighed. "She left," he muttered under his breath.

Yoi walked out of the kitchen and noticed the man whom Kagome bumped into earlier watch her disappear. Walking around the counter as dusted her hands off, getting the flour off and when it was almost off she clasped a hand on the man's shoulder,"Ready to take your shift Shippo?"

Kagome bustled through the busy streets of Tokyo, trying to get to her last day of high school and move on in life. She knew her friends must have been waiting for her.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know she should have been here by now."

"It's Kagome we are talking about, she is mostly late, but she had to choose the day of graduation to be late."

"Guys!" three heads turned to see a girl running to them. They sighed in relief,"We thought you'd never get here," Yuka said to her.

Kagome smiled apologetically,"I was caught up with the crowds on my way here. Uh…we better go inside," she said, staring at the wristwatch.

The four girls hurriedly ran inside and made it before the bell rang.

Time Skip

It seemed like hours until they were let out.

Kagome stared at her diploma in disbelief. _After all the hard work, I think I deserve this…but it doesn't feel right._

She walked out to the crowded grounds of the other graduates in search of her mother.

Two arms engulfed her into a tight hug,"Oh you did so well sweet heart," she realized it was her mother hugging her.

"Thank you mom," Kagome smiled, she looked over her mother's shoulder to see her grandfather with a proud look on his face. When Mrs. Higurashi stepped back and smiled at her daughter, the scruff sounds of an announcement rang.

"Congratulations to our new graduates!" the man on the loud speakers had said as every person who graduated that day had a diploma in hand and the sounds of cheers and conversations of the future boomed on the front of the school grounds.

Three girls made their way through the crowd towards the eighteen year old girl with long raven hair standing next to two of her family members.

"Kagome!" one of them said with a contented smile when the finally reached the one they were looking for.

The said girl must have lost them when she was looking for her family.

Kagome heard her name being called out and she turned around to find the source of it. She smiled back at Yuka and the other two. "Hey," Kagome said to them.

The three girls stopped a foot away, Yuka looked at Kagome's family and her eyes stopped on her mother. "Hello Mrs. Higurashi."

"Congratulations on graduating girls," Mrs. Higurashi told them.

Kagome excitedly told her mother that all three of them have been accepted to University.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled pleasantly to them,"What wonderful news. Have you all decided what you wanted to be?"

The three girls nodded at the older woman standing before them.

"I want to become an interpreter," Ayumi answered.

"I've decided to be a news anchor," Yuka stated and her eyes shined with determination. "I still haven't decided what I wanted to be," Eri said, her face becoming crestfallen at the end of her sentence.

"It'll all work out. I know you will become something great Eri," Mrs. Higurashi said kindly to the girl. Eri smiled in thanks.

Kagome smiled and looked up at the sky, memories clouded her vision to that day, it was this day that marked three years since the well had been closed.

Mrs. Higurashi gazed at her daughter while the three girls chatted to themselves after they walked off with a goodbye. Her eyes softened and draped an arm around her daughters shoulders. Her little girl wasn't so little anymore. She knew that look on her daughters face, she must have been thinking of _that_ day.

It was still day when Kagome and her family walked to their shrine. _I can't see Inuyasha anymore,_ she thought, her hands absentmindedly fisted tightly to her sides.

Grandpa Higurashi did not say a word while they walked to their home.

"We'll be having some visitors soon," was what Grandpa Higurashi said when they walked on the grounds of the shrine.

"We haven't had one in a little while. I should make something for them to drink while you speak to them father," Mrs. Higurashi said.

"Splendid idea Aimi, I shall think of what to say when they arrive. Kagome would you like to-" he stopped speaking when he noticed his granddaughter standing in front of the sacred tree with her palm rested on the scar where _he_ had been pinned there for fifty years.

Mrs. Higurashi placed a hand on her father-in-law's shoulder,"Let's go inside she has somethings to think about."

Grandpa Higurashi nodded and the two of them went inside.

When Kagome heard that they will be having visitors soon she changed out of her high school uniform and placed on a violet plain shirt under a pink sweater and blue skirt with triangles on the hem of it. She smiled when she placed the high school uniform away. _Now there are no more exams to take,_ she thought, bitting on the bottom of her lip. _Inuyasha didn't like those, I agree with him but they were important.__ Now that's the least important thing on my mind._

Kagome noticed a piece of paper fall out from her uniform jacket. "The note Yoi gave to me," she muttered to herself. Placing the note securely in the pocket of her pink sweater, she walked out the door of her room then downstairs to the outside of the house. A couple in their early thirties were standing in front of the sacred tree with smiles on their faces.

"They must be the visitors grandpa was talking about," Kagome told herself.

"Welcome," her grandfather in the knick of time came out of the house and began to speak to them.

Kagome turned around and almost bumped into a young girl that must have been standing behind her. "Oh hello," she said, trying to form a smile on her face.

The young girl looked up at her. Her black hair was tied in two pig tails and her blue eyes stared up at her. "Hi," the young girl said with a giggle escaping her mouth.

"What is your name?" Kagome asked her.

"Inuki," a voice called out. The two girl's looked to the right to see the woman standing with her husband earlier call out for the girl.

"Bye," the said girl had said to Kagome and skipped off to her mother.

"Inuki," Kagome said to no one and felt something stir inside of her when she looked off to the direction of the opened shoji door of the well house.

She walked to it and stared inside then looking back to feel the suddenness of someone staring at her. There was no one there and she stepped inside.

Kagome stepped down each step until she reached the ledge of the well. _Why did it stop working? Was it because of my feelings? Was it because of me? Being stranded in that darkness, not knowing that it was for three days leaving my family scared and afraid for me. _

She was trying to fight the tears that were on the verge of streaming down her cheeks at any given moment.

_My job was complete after I completed the sacred jewel, I know that now._

Kagome placed her hand on the ledge of the well and gripped it tightly,_ I want to see you...Inuyasha._

Wind...she felt the featherlight touch of wind on her face, its soft breeze caressing her face and shocking her like electricity. Her eyes snapped open to see a sky on the bottom of the Bone Eater's Well. She contemplated if her eyes were deceiving her, if they were she would have last that tiny string of hope tugging at her heart.

Yet there it was, the ever blue and white sky just below her. She watched as a few clouds passed on until she heard her mother's voice break her thoughts and her sight from the phenomenon that was happening.

Mrs. Higurashi was passing by the well house when she noticed a figure standing by the well gazing down. "Kagome?" She stood by the door and then walked down to where her daughter was standing. "Is something wrong?" she noticed that her daughter did not turn around when she first called her.

When she was next to her, that's when Kagome spoke up. "Mama, the sky," she said, not tearing her gaze from it.

The sounds of birds chirping echoed through and to their ears. Kagome lifted her palm to stand up straight. Mrs. Higurashi pulled her to an embrace. Kagome was thinking whether she could jump in, but there was her family, how could she just leave her family? She was the only daughter that her mother ever had.

"Mama I- I-"

Mrs. Higurashi turned her daughter to face her and looked into her teary eyes. She made up her decision, one of the hardest ones yet but she knew she going to say the right thing. Mrs. Higurashi smiled,"You can go, I understand." Kagome smiled, her first true smile.

"Thank you mama," Kagome hugged her mother tight. Mrs. Higurashi kissed her forehead,"Take good care of yourself, I love you so much."

"I love you too mama and I will," Kagome retorted and dried her tears that lingered on her eyelashes.

"He must be waiting for you," her mother said, helping her over the edge of the well. Kagome smiled and looked down, she then gazed at her mother and said,"I'll see you someday, I promise."

Mrs. Higurashi watched her jumped inside and see her disappear, then moments after the sky disappeared and was replaced by the darkness of the well. She ran a hand over the ledge of the well, that would be the last time she would ever see her. She smiled, she knew she Kagome would be happy.

She turned around and noticed two figures standing by the shoji door. It was the mother of the little girl who her father-in-law spoke to and her daughter.

"Mama now can we tell her?" she heard the little girl ask.

"Go on ahead Inuki," the woman answered with a soft smile.

The little girl hopped down the steps and took Mrs. Higurashi's hand,"Let's go grandma, my daddy says that you can make good ramen and that you have waited long enough."

Mrs. Higurashi gaped and was lost for words. She stared at the woman and the unmistakable smile of hers made her want to cry.

"Kagome..."

"Hello mama," the woman answered,"I did say that I promised to see you soon."

In The Place Where It All Started

Kagome felt the time slip change as she noticed the familiar swirls of black and blue.

She couldn't believe that she was traveling back, back to where she belonged. Then her feet touched the ground after hovering for several seconds. "I'm back," she whispered, looking up at the sky. She clasped her hands together and tears blurred her vision.

Her arms fell back to her sides, she was going to climb up the vines to get out of the well, she smiled to herself. She was back, overly content with the fact that the well let her through. Her hand went to the pocket in her pink sweater, remembering the note.

_"Never give up hope Kagome, you'll see that person very soon._"

She smiled, mentally thanking Yoi, then climbing up the vines. It wasn't before she almost reached the top of it when she noticed a clawed hand and a familiar red sleeve in her sight.

Kagome reached up and clasped her hand over the hand extend to her. _I'm home._

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**Author's Note**

Thank you for reading everyone, I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this, but I was like what the heck I'll just do it. Thank you to my sister for typing it for me. Arigato :) This one shot is tied with my drabble, _I'll Be Right Here Waiting For You_, thanks again everyone!

(1) Torikago Sunset Special - Torikago means birdcage and since Kagome's name actually means birdcage so I decided to put that there. Sunset, is the meaning of Higurashi.

Arigato minna-san for reading!

Yours truly,

FF77 :D


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